“Our new partnership with AsiaSat will further consolidate our market leadership position in South India entertainment and enable us to grow our business regionally,” said Dr Ravindran M, director, Raj Television Network.

“AsiaSat 5 offers unprecedented access to all major cable headends and DTH platforms in India and numerous pay TV operators across the region, it is the right choice for us to expand our audience base in southern India and nationally as well as in international markets,” he said.

Located at 100.5 degrees East, AsiaSat 5 spans 50 countries from Russia to New Zealand and from Japan to the Middle East and parts of Africa.

William Wade, chief executive, AsiaSat added: “Raj Television Network is a leading brand in southern India. We are pleased that Raj’s exciting range of TV programming has commenced broadcasting on AsiaSat 5.

“Raj’s diverse offerings in news, music and entertainment content have further enhanced AsiaSat 5′s capability in delivering high quality programming to audiences in India and to the South Asian community across the region,” said Wade.

Raj TV, based in Chennai, began life in 1994 with the launch of its first Indian 24 hour entertainment channel. The network’s programming now caters for a wide range of tastes and ages across a range of South Indian languages as well as Hindi.